Bring Over
by Cuetlaxcoyotl
Summary: Verb: to convince or persuade; to take someone or something from one place to the place where someone else is. Or a fic where a SI/OC that replaces an AU!Uchiha Sasuke ends up, without much explanation, in the universe of Ao no Exorcist (but only watched like 2 anime episodes), fixates on protecting Rin and tries to stop Yukio from becoming, well, a Sasuke kind of character. WIP
1. NULL

**Hi, this is a spin-off of my kinda self-insert OC Naruto fic "Overwhelm"** that I finally decided to post this somewhere accessible (the last time I updated that fic about one or two years ago I announced that this was posted somewhere in secret to see if there was interest, but only one person actually asked about it, so basically tumblr user lovingempress is my favorite forever and everyone should thank her). **It is not finished** (like Overwhelm) but im still kinda writing it (unlike Overwhelm), it's just that stuff happened (explanations, excuses and my life story in the notes at the end as always, for the curious) so no amount of "please update soon" will get me to write faster, those reviews will be appreciated anyways but will not serve as motivation, sorry. **It can be read on its own, everything you need to know is that Shizuka is supposed to be a female Uchiha Sasuke with the memories of a dead Mexican chick**. Also, I write this super long chapter notes because in my heart it is still 2006, you can skip them if you want, they are not important for the actual fic.

 **Tl;dr: the important parts have been bolded above for your convenience**

* * *

 ** _Null_**

 _It should be a surprise, it isn't._

* * *

Shizuka wakes up on the floor of an alleyway. She knows her brother is dead with a certainty that makes her eyes ache and bleed and hates the power that is for the moment unused and dormant and will eventually blind her, but this time she is grateful for his sacrifice and Obito's, even if she will never forgive them. She knows that, if she is there, their plan worked and her team still has a fighting chance back home and that's all that matters. She isn't sure where she was sent exactly, but the city night she can see from the alley resembles those from the memories of another life; she sees the little round and black demons floating around and another old memory comes forth, and then she knows where she is. It should be a surprise, it isn't.

Δ

With her eyes and her training, it's easy to create an identity and find the people she needs to find. The name she assumes resembles her true one and is common enough. Her background is shallow, but if she is careful, that would become an asset if powerful people takes notice of her.

She doesn't know much about this world nor the future, not as much as she did back at home: the world and the people she had loved in two lives. But she knows enough and she landed in the right place and the right moment.

Δ

She stands at the front of the class in her new uniform. She transferred to finish her third year of middle school. She introduces herself and writes her name on the board. She wishes she will get along with everyone, she says and it's true, but all of this was with the purpose of meeting a single person.

When she looks around the classroom, Okumura Rin smiles at her. She'll take that as a good omen.

* * *

 _Notes_

\- I promised my excuses so, basically the last time I saw my grandmother alive I was quite literally in the middle of writing chapter 3 (this one is a prologue), so is basically until now, a year later, that I felt like finishing it.

I also kind of quit my job because my boss ended up being a pig and then I ran away to Cancun where I worked a very consuming job for a year, until I decided I missed my family too much and came back home.

\- I don't really know how and why Shizuka ended up there, please be kind to me and don't think about it too much. If we get lucky, I may be finally able to reveal to you the cool mary-sue super powers I had planned for Shizuka in Overwhelm, they are spoilers, but dunno if I'll get to write that far ahead.


	2. EINS

**_Eins_**

 _At least his dad will be pleased._

* * *

Rin isn't sure how it happened, but he's waiting for his friend to get out of work so they can study together for the entrance exams. While Shizuka wants to go to True Cross like Yukio, he doesn't have expectatives that high because, before meeting her, Rin was planning to just drop out and find work, so he doesn't think he can pass the difficult entrance exam of the private academy (and because Yukio was going on a scholarship, not sense paying for Rin's tuition when his little brother was the one that showed promise). But Shizuka is working hard (against school regulations and probably child labor laws) to pay her own tuition because her guardian will not be able to, and somehow she brainwashed him into taking the exam for a public school and find a part time work; at least his dad will be pleased.

The thing is that both of them have abysmal grades (the reason she can't apply for an scholarship). Shizuka is awful at social studies and is constantly skipping class to go to work, Rin has simply never done well at school, and neither of them is going to cram school for their own reasons. Thankfully she understands math and science, and has ok English, so she tutors him on that, and well, he can't help her with history, geography and literature, where she has most problems, but now he actually goes to class and can get the assignments and such for her, and then they review together.

The place she works at is not in a good part of town, but those are the kind of business that would employ her at an evening shift; Rin is comforted by the fact that she is secluded to the kitchen. The thing that actually worries him is whatever it is that she does on school hours, because she has never explained beyond "commission" and "freelance".

When she steps out the employee's entrance at the back, she is carrying a plastic bag with a container of leftovers on one hand, her school bag on the other, and the sports bag where she stashes her uniform strapped across her chest. He usually brings leftovers of his own from home and they eat them as supper while they study at an internet café (they don't allow boys at the rooms she's staying at), but his dad believes he has a girlfriend and has been incessantly teasing him about it, so today they'll go to the church and study well in everybody's view. She tells him it's going to have the opposite effect, but he knows his old man and he will believe her if she's the one to explain.

Δ

Shiro examines the girl Rin has just brought home. His boy is sweet but an idiot (the kind of idiocy that mostly goes away with age) so a girlfriend is not something he was expecting to happen for some years. At least Yukio is still predictably going nowhere with the Moriyama girl (something he doesn't want to deal with for many reasons, poor kids). The girl introduced as Uchida Shizuka is a pale wiry thing dressed in a track suit, with black hair severely held back and a scar on her face. Cute, he admits, like an underfed kitten or a tidier, more serious, baby Shura (but that doesn't sound like Shura, uhm). She is not Rin's type at all.

Maybe they are really study partners, go figure. But it's good, either way, girlfriend or not, his son is taking school and his future more seriously and getting closer to the people around him, it will ground him, he hopes.

When Yukio -entering the room after Shiro- sees her, he does a double take.

"Uchida-san?"

"Oh, uhm, good evening Okumura-kun".

"Did something happen?". Yukio frowns, looking from her to his brother, searching his face and knuckles for bruises and scrapes to fix.

"Rin was introducing me to his girlfriend".

"She is not my girlfriend", Rin says at the same time Shizuka answers, "I'm just helping Rin-kun with his math, and he lend me some history notes I believe are yours, Okumura-kun".

"Mine are really bad and she missed classes when our group covered that part", explains Rin, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. "You don't mind, right?"

Yukio adopts a stern posture Shiro doesn't have idea where Yukio got from, because certainly, it wasn't from him. "You should have asked first, Nii-san".

"You and the old man weren't here when we got home".

"That's not excuse for looking through my things".

As his sons descend into an argument, Shiro focus his attention again on the girl and she looks back at him, expressionless, like she had been the entire time.

"Thank you for helping Rin", he tells her, and her face softens a bit.

"He's a good friend".

Δ

It's been a while since Yukio learned the truth behind Uchida´s doll-like ojou-san façade, but he still has problems believing that the soft-spoken girl, with her regulation length skirt, her approved color cardigans and her big white bow at the back of the head, is constantly skipping classes, has an illegal job at the bad part of town and constantly gets involved at his brother's fights; the scar – thin and straight, like it was made by a blade– that crosses her face would have been an signal, but he didn't want to make assumptions (in truth he made them, and they were wrong).

At the moment, she is sitting in seiza in front of him and his brother, eating cherry tomatoes with relish from her Our Neighbor Troll lunch box. Her lunch (like Yukio's) was made by Rin. They don't always eat together, Yukio used to believe (because he is in another class and usually too busy to notice these things) that the days when he and Rin ate alone, she was with other friends, now he knows that she simply isn't at school.

"Uhm, our homeroom teacher said that our grades seem ok and she will help us fill the papers before the deadline", Uchida says. Even with all her delinquent ways, she is a good influence on Rin. "She praised Rin-kun a lot".

Rin blushes and looks away, stuffing his mouth with rice so he doesn't have to comment. Shizuka puts a piece of kabocha on his bento and then gives Yukio a second one in a snake quick movement that leaves her looking quite pleased with herself.

"Her condition was that we have to apply to a public and a private school. I'll apply for the same public one as Rin-kun".

"I don't understand why we have to take two exams".

"Sensei wants us to have a Plan B, Rin-kun".

"My Plan B was to drop out".

"She is a teacher; her work is to try to keep us at school".

Rin pouts at her and points rudely at Yukio with his chopsticks.

"Yukio is only applying to True Cross".

Yukio doesn't have more options in the path he's chosen.

Δ

All of them pass.

When he sees his name in the acceptance lists, Rin grabs Uchida and twirls her around, then hugs Yukio with way too much strength before running away to tell dad.

When they get True Cross Academy's results, Rin and Uchida grab the other's hands and jump excitedly in place before lunging after Yukio to take each of them one of his hands, so he can awkwardly join in the jumping and then Rin drags them to tell dad.

Afterwards the rest of the term passes quickly; none of them goes to the class trip to Kyoto, much to Rin disappointment, but when they finally graduate he's excited once again.

Dad congratulates them after the ceremony, grinning broadly and ruffling their hair. Rin bears it bashfully and with ill grace, pleased and too prideful at once. Yukio thinks he did better, but he also blushed at the praise.

* * *

 _Notes_

\- What is Shizuka doing when she misses classes? She does translations. Eli, the dead girl whose memories she has, is based on me, obviously, so she speaks Spanish, English and French, on top of Japanese, which I don't speak but it's Shizuka native language. This is all wish fulfillment on my part, because now in my old age it is harder to pick up languages. Kids, if you are reading this, please take seriously your foreign language classes if you have them at school. Anyways, translation work never ends, because if you are doing it freelance it means that if a regular client asks you for a job and you decline, they will find another person and may never ask you again.

\- Uchida is not a mistake, she changed her name, remember, for a more common one.

\- Our Neighbor Troll is My Neighbor Totoro, in the spirit of brands like wacdonald's or bepsi


	3. ZWEI

_**Zwei**_

 _And there are other things, larger, weirder and lurking._

* * *

School vacations are the best, even if he is going to work in the evenings along Shizuka, to learn his way around the club's kitchen (then he will replace her once she moves to the dorms at True Cross Town). At first, he was nervous, but his first day of work goes ok. The club's kitchen is understaffed even with both Rin and Shizuka there, but his new co-workers are ok people and he'll get along with them. His boss is scary and prone to gesture with the knives, but she gave him a slap -that he's sure was supposed to be a pat- to the back once his sift was over, so he thinks she approves him.

The walk home is different now that they are going directly home; they take their time and chat a bit, look around. Rin will miss this, but still, school vacations are the best because Rin doesn't have to go to class or pull late night study sessions and he gets to hang up with Shizuka and Yukio, if his brother finds free time.

They just hang up at home or go to the park, but they have a karaoke night with Yukio one Wednesday, on their day off. There, it is discovered that Shizuka can sing in French and Yukio demurs he can't sing at all (a fact Rin knows is a lie, Yukio is just really shy).

Afterwards, Rin and Yukio are walking Shizuka home, because it's quite late and far from their usual haunts, where they have a reputation among most petty criminals and gangs. Still, they aren't expecting problems when a bunch of older guys, college age and very drunk, start harassing them from across the street.

Rin does a stellar job keeping calm and collected and ignoring them, even after the assholes begin following them; he is still calm when the assholes cross the street and he is still agreeable to just walk away when the assholes cut their way, sneering and posturing like idiots.

But then one guy grabs Shizuka by the arm and makes her turn his way forcefully. She goes rigid and sends a look first to Rin and then to Yukio, and in any other situation she would have already freed herself, but she's trying to not escalate because she doesn't want to get Rin in trouble and Rin is furious, with Yukio who never understands, himself because it's his fault she is still being manhandled, and especially the assholes, for daring to disrespect Shizuka in the first place .

"Release her," Rin tells the asshole.

"And if I don't want to?", the idiot asks mockingly, making Shizuka step closer to him, and the others laugh. Rin looks at Shizuka and nods, and she throws the asshole over her shoulder and knees his friend on the stomach after he tries to backhand her in retaliation.

"We tried," Rin tells Yukio after punching a third asshole in the nose and watching him run away with the fourth one.

Before Yukio has chance to respond to that, Shizuka takes them by the wrist and begins dragging them away.

"The objective of self-defense is to escape", she says and Yukio glowers at her but allows himself to be led. Once they are at a distance, he stops and tugs at his wrist- Shizuka lets him go instantly, then she gives Rin wrist a light reassuring squeeze before releasing him too.

"You need to stop getting into fights, Nii-san", says Yukio with a sigh and Rin is automatically pissed off because his brother was there, he surely noticed that the assholes where the ones picking a fight and got what they deserved, what if they went after another girl? One walking alone? And Rin is trying, before he did pick fights with whoever looked at him wrong, even after meeting Shizuka, but she always jumps after him. At first it was mortifying, because he didn't want a girl defending him, then learned better and it was nice to have someone always on his side, and then it was mortifying again, because most fights were over stupid stuff and he was dragging her into them.

They still get into fights, but nowadays is usually with a good reason behind.

"It wasn't our fault". Shizuka is always on his side. "In any case I hit him first, didn't I?"

She stares at Yukio until he finally admits, "they deserved it", but before Rin can begin to gloat, he continues, "still, it happens too often. Dad worries, I worry; this time you didn't get hurt but what are you going to do once Uchida-san and I are gone?"

That's the question, isn't it? He's trying and he can say with pride that he's changed too, but what will happen once he's alone?

A nearby streetlamp shorts out with a loud bang and they jump aside to avoid the glass and sparkles that fall. Rin digs his hands into his pockets, slouches and begins to walk away, "let's just get Shizu home".

Δ

Rin expends his Thursday window-shopping with Shizuka and then working. After their shift, he insists on eating out, for old times' sake. "We won't see each other once school starts". He's been thinking about it for a while.

"Now that you have a job, you could get a cheap computer and we could have video calls". Shizuka herself has a heavy old laptop with a fan that sounds like a helicopter and a defective battery, he doesn't think one can have video calls in that thing, he isn't even sure if it has a camera. "You can use it for studying and homework, too".

"Yeah, maybe". And even with a computer he isn't sure how will he fare at school without his brother and Shizuka.

"We'll keep in touch, I promise. You are the first friend I made here, and, and, uhm you know I don't have family; now all my important people are you and Okumura-kun, but I don't think he counts me as a friend".

But she will make new friends and she'll be busy all the time, like Yukio and Dad. He is proud of them, but he can't help but feel expendable, or worse, a burden, like all his effort is taking him nowhere and he's being left behind.

He's so immersed in his thoughts that he sees and dismisses as unimportant how the number of bugs buzzing over trash, out of alleys and around the shadier business suddenly augments, its dirty, there are vermin, its normal, but when he does notice how much they are swarming, forming seething black masses, he also notices that the bugs have faces and tails, and there are other things, larger, weirder and lurking.

He stops in the middle of the street and stares. The people appear to ignore the weird creatures even when they walk into the swarms and the tiny monsters crash against their bodies and bounce, floating, away. Surely they would be concerned if they could see them, surely they could try to bat them away from their faces, at least. Is he hallucinating now?

Shizuka lays a hand on his arm, startling him. "It's ok, let's find somewhere to sit".

He lets himself be dragged to a fast food joint, miraculously still open, and then he is shoved to sit in a booth with a milkshake and orders to drink it.

"You see them", she says. He nods, drinking his milkshake. "I do, too". He nods again and she reaches to her hair and plucks from her bun one of the small round creatures. Its little face looks very grumpy. Rin forgets to be shocked for a moment.

"What are they", he asks, poking at the thing. It looks resigned now. Rin doesn't ask why she is carrying one around in her hair; it has a tiny bow tied to the end of its tail.

"Demons", she answers, petting the creature between the… horns(?) with a finger. "You should tell your dad. He's a priest, so his job is to deal with demons. And he should be informed if you suddenly can see them".

Rin takes a moment and concentrates on finishing his milkshake so he doesn't have to think about it too much. His straw makes a funny noise when he drinks the last bit.

"Have you always been able to? Why I'm seeing them now?"

"Did you get hurt recently? No? A way to see demons is to be wounded by one, other is to be born from a certain bloodline. My clan has magical cursed eyes that awaken under certain conditions, very unpleasant ones, with shitty side-effects. That's why you should tell your dad".

"You are really bent to talking with the old man, aren't you?"

"It's nice to have an adult take care of things", she explains. "I'll even go with you, if you want".

Δ

"Father Fujimoto, Rin needs to tell you something important".

Shiro looks up from the report he's reading and places it face down on the desk. Shizuka is at the door of his office wearing a small frown on her face. Rin ligers nervously behind her, not looking at him. Shiro sighs.

"You lost the job, didn't you?" It hasn't been a week, but Rin has a temper and sometimes loses control of his strength. It's sad because he is kind and he is trying -most incidents occur because his good intentions- but in the end it's not surprising.

"What?! No! How little hope you have in me, old man!" In his outburst, Rin storms into the room, then deflates again.

"Then what is it?" Shiro crosses his arms and waits. If it's not the job, well, it's not a fight either, both Rin and Shizuka look unharmed and worried, but not guilty. They are still on vacations, so it's not school unless Rin got cold feet and now wants to drop out. By now he is sure they aren't dating, so it's not likely that she's pregnant.

Rin licks his lips and looks around, his eyes avoiding Shiro's. Shizuka nudges him a little.

"I can kinda see demons".

Shiro has been dreading this moment. He now wishes that Rin had lost that job.

"Rin, sit down". He does. "Uchida-chan, I suppose it was your idea to come? Yes? Good work". Shiro pinches the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "I need to have a conversation with Rin, so if you could?"

"I'll be waiting outside". She walks out the office, closing the door behind her, before Shiro can send her home.

Rin is slouching on his seat, with his arms crossed. He's not looking at Shiro, all defensive, like he's once again about to be lectured. Unfortunately, Shiro needs to be harsh to save his life.

"Demons, you say?"

"Little ones, round, floating, and bigger ones with ape like arms", Rin mumbles, looking at him side-eyed, like daring Shiro to not believe him.

"Tar Coals, demons that possess dirt, and goblins. You suddenly started seeing them? Nothing else happened?" Rin is looking at him now, less slouched, still drawn into himself, defensive in a different way.

"Yeah, I thought at first that they were bugs or something, then I don't know; nobody else appeared to see them. Shizu noticed, though, convinced me to tell you". Rin shifts in his seat. "Why, why I suddenly…?

Shiro have been dreading this moment, hoping the seal would hold forever, but –he tries to convince himself – it's not too bad, just being able to see demons, he can treat it as a warning, the seal is weakened but still active. He takes a deep breath.

"The most common way it happens is when a demon inflicts a wound or illness on a human. It leaves what we call mashou or temptain, and the human becomes able to see demons all their life. But your case is different, Rin. Even though your mother was human, your father is a powerful demon. The most powerful of them. Rin, you are the son of Satan".

Δ

Shiro finds Shizuka in the Kitchen and he is glad she stayed; Rin took the explication with the apparent calm that signals problems in the long run and she has a pacifying effect on his sons. The girl is washing dishes and the counters look cleaner. The old electric kettle is steaming, just waiting for the tea leaves. Shiro sits heavily, feeling old and tired. Shizuka pours him a cup of tea and places it in front of him, she has two other cups on a tray.

"He is should be in his room", Shiro tells her instead of thanks. Shizuka nods and goes after Rin.

Shiro contemplates his tea for a moment, takes a sip. It's good. He places the cup back down and takes a cheap cellphone out of his pocket, it has a single number stored. He calls.

"It will be soon".

Δ

When he hears the knock at the door, he is first tempted to ignore it, then to yell to be left alone, in the end the gets up and opens.

It's Shizuka with concern written all over and two cups of tea. Rin wordlessly lets her in and sits on his bed. She hands him a cup and sits next to him with the other, tray forgotten to the side.

"Yukio has always been able to see". Rin says after a moment. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"Why didn't I tell you? Why didn't you want to tell your dad?"

"Yeah, ok. I- I know. It's just… He's my twin, I should- When we were little he used to be scared of monsters, and, and, it's because of me he was born with temptain, because I'm not human. There's a sword- a seal that keeps me in human form and it's breaking, so now I can see demons, because I'm one and I, and I…"

"I don't care"

"Wha-"

"Well, I do care, because you care, and I'll try to be supportive and you need to learn to ignore things that are invisible to everybody else… But Rin, it doesn't change shit. You are my friend Rin-kun, who is bad at math and brings me lunches to school and stays up late studying with me and hates people who is cruel to animals and cries to shoujo manga and…"

"Ok, ok, I get it. But my dad? And Yukio?"

"They love you. Father Fujimoto is worried about you, I'm sure they just wanted to protect you". Rin sips at his tea, not waiting to acknowledge that yet, Shizuka does the same.

"It's just a lot to take".

"I know. Uhmm I have secrets, too. I should tell you, you are trusting me this".

"It's about your creepy magic eyes?"

"Yep, in part".

"Can I see?"

Shizuka nods, blinks and her eyes are red and black. She tilts her head first to one side, then the other, looking at him carefully. Rin doesn't know if he is imagining things, but her gaze has a weight to it.

"Uhmm these eyes can see through illusion and you look the same Rin-kun as always", she says and takes a sip of tea, Rin feels suddenly relieved. He is still himself. She looks at him again, shyly this time, side-eyed and from under her lashes. He still feels pinned under her eyes. The little black marks around her pupil spin slowly one direction, then the other. It reminds him of how a bird pupil expands and contracts when it focuses its sight. "Like this, I will also remember forever everything I see. Could you give me a smile?"

Rin does.

* * *

 _Notes_

\- The nature of the club Shizuka works at is left to your imagination.

\- Yukio was being stubborn about Shizuka defending herself because he can get blindsided on anything that concerns his brother in various terrible ways, that make him feel even more terrible about various things about himself afterwards.

\- They are 15, so teenage pregnancies are a _concern_. I had a pregnant classmate when I started high school. Kids, if you are reading this be safe and take care of yourselves! If you have doubts it's for a reason, if you have questions you should ask them, if you need help you should ask for it, your information should not come from a single source, you are smart and have common sense, be discerning. Don't trust blindly stuff people tell you on the internet! Not even this, as you don't know me and I'm for sure not qualified to give any kind of advice to the youth!

\- Unfortunately, even if I get to write that far, Kuro will be the only cat to appear and this fic will be severely lacking in cats, which I know are the only reason most people read Overwhelm, but do not worry Shizuka's 14 cats are well and happy somewhere, they miss Shizuka and Shizuka misses them, but they are otherwise ok. Shizuka is not ready to let another kitty into her life this soon, so the Coal Tar's name is Smokey Eyes and it has long since accepted that there is no escape.


	4. DREI

_**Drei**_

 _A horrified kind of silence forms between them._

* * *

Yukio will never know with exactitude the events that transpire that Friday.

The night before, Rin started seeing demons, dad explained him about the seal and Rin had told Uchida something; she stayed the night because it was late and dad spoke with her, but Yukio isn't sure about what.

The morning is tense, dad had told Rin about exorcists, but not about the Order or Yukio's involvement; Rin doesn't talk to him and Yukio doesn't know what he is thinking, because he is uncharacteristically serious. After breakfast, Rin and Uchida slip out somewhere and Yukio goes to work.

The days goes by normally, busy but kind of boring until the evening, when dad calls him directly on his cellphone to attend a possibly high-level demon attack near to Rin's job. Countless possibilities pass through his mind as he approaches the place alone, as per the instructions to only request reinforcements if he considered the situation could get out of hand.

(That's about the moment he begins to question his father decisions.)

He doesn't even arrive to the site. On his way he finds Uchida, when she drops next to him from somewhere high and almost gets herself shot, then, ignoring the gun, she begins to drag him in the opposite direction in a dead run he struggles to keep up.

Somehow, while running, she manages to explain him that the demon had been waiting for Rin and was possessing some guy they had had problems before. She had called to the church to warn his dad about the demon and to don't let Rin go to work. But then the demon had figured out Rin wasn't going to appear and decided to go after him. Uchida had tried to stop him (Yukio doesn't know how she thought she was going to do that), but the humans that where following the demon had tried to stop her in turn, first directly, and then by threatening the club.

"Rin-kun was already on his way when I called", she explains, worried. "We must hurry. I will carry you if I have to, but we must hurry".

She doesn't have to carry him, because in a nearby alley they find the unconscious host.

"Dad must have found him", he tries to reassure her. "They should be back home".

Uchida isn't convinced and insists on hurrying anyways, but Yukio quite literally drags his heels and they don't continue at such neck-breaking speeds like before.

Yukio doesn't know if they could have made a difference, but can't help but regret that he didn't listen to her.

When they arrived, dad was dead and Rin a demon.

Δ

Uchida doesn't leave Rin side. Good, because now it is Yukio's job to watch over his brother and he can't bear to do so, and he stands aside and lets her hover as close as possible while the paramedics work. He talks with the Order while she coaxes Rin him to clean and change. He immerses himself on funerary arrangements while she shoves food at Rin's hands and makes him eat. He evades her when she tries to do the same to Yukio.

At the wake, Rin and Uchida huddle on chairs close to the casket, holding hands over the sword Rin now can't separate from. There are not many people at the wake, just them, the monks and some members of the congregation, no one from the Order. They pray every once and again during the night, and Yukio is a bit surprised that Uchida knows the Rosary prayers and Mysteries.

And it hits Yukio that neither he or his brother had done so for a while. When was the last time he had confessed? Gone to Mass? Dad had never pressured them to, but Rin had keep doing it for longer that Yukio, as he was, ironically, the most devout twin.

But Yukio didn't have that much sins to confess, other that the envy he had for his brother, and the resentment he sometimes felt and it's now almost overwhelming, but those weren't things he wanted to tell dad. He doesn't know how he feels now that he never will be able to tell.

He doesn't know anything at all.

Δ

Yukio has been avoiding him, how could he not? Shizuka insist they can work it, but first Rin and Yukio have to talk. "The longer it goes, the harder it will be, and the uglier it will get", she had said, and when she went home to shower and change for the funeral, she got Yukio to sit with Rin, giving him the perfect chance.

"Yukio," he begins and it looks like his brother isn't listening, but he plunges ahead anyways. "You know what happened that night, don't you? How, how dad died. You… also knew he was an exorcist, right?"

At first Yukio keeps staring right ahead, watching, immobile and silent, at the casket, but in the end he sighs and adjust his glasses.

"Yes, I know," he answers and turns to look at Rin with cold, detached, contempt, and Rin can only listen to him, frozen at the spot. "He was the strongest exorcist, the only man capable of sustaining possession by Satan and he fought it out for 15 years." Yukio stands, stepping between Rin and the casket, gesturing sharply at dad's body. "You said something to him that night, something that weakened his willpower; you were his only weakness and you killed him, Nii-san. And now you are no more than a demon; turn yourself to the exorcist or please just die before you kill someone else".

They stare at each other, a horrified kind of silence forms between them. Rin's hand clenches around the sword on his lap, his tail lashing behind him (he can feel it hit the backrest of his chair, but he is ignoring it, he has been ignoring it since he first noticed it on his body. Shizuka had looked again at him with her red eyes and declared he still looks the same Rin-kun, he's been clinging to that ever since).

"What good will that do?" he asks, pissed off. "The old man died protecting me. He said he kept me safe all those years. I- I want to be strong like him and protect others; I will become an exorcist too".

"How?", asks Yukio.

"Shizu told me that True Cross has kind of a cram-school for exorcist- that's the reason she wanted to go there in the first place, and we think you are going to attend those classes too… and it is too late for me to try to get into True Cross, but, it can't be the only place I can learn, isn't it?"

Yukio turns around and walks to the casket, Rin stands up and follows him. Neither had said good-bye yet, it feels appropriate to do it together, that's what dad should have liked, Rin thinks. Dad looks— good, not asleep like he had heard on TV, but good, clean and calm, like himself except for how they arranged his hair and the lack of glasses. It's good. If this is the last time he'll get to see dad, it's good.

"You'll have to talk with our new guardian", says Yukio after a while and, at first, Rin is confused about the— there's a word for it, uh, non-sequitur.

"What?" he asks. And yes, he had forgotten about guardianship, or he had assumed they would stay wards of the monastery.

"If you want to be an exorcist you'll have to talk with our new guardian. He may not let you."

"Do you know who he is?" Distaste crosses Yukio's face. "Do you know him?"

"Yes, he'll show for the ceremony."

Δ

As they are on Lent and it is a Sunday, they can't have a funeral Mass, but burials are nor expressly forbidden, so there is a service.

Once everything is done, people begin to retreat inside. Yukio looks back but eventually goes and Rin sends Shizuka with him, and Rin is left alone over the grave. Their new guardian didn't show himself, but Rin doesn't care. He has in his pocket the phone dad had given him the morning he started to see demons, along with the key that hid the sword and orders to take it and run if necessary, to never unsheathe it.

He didn't imagine he would need to disobey dad so soon. That same night dad told him to go and that was it, all the horrible things Rin had been fearing were true, so, smarting from the blow, he had told dad other terrible, unfair, thing.

He would do better now, for dad.

He takes the phone and calls the single number stored in it. A ringtone chimes behind him.

Δ

Another person tells him to die, he doesn't care. He will be an exorcist, for dad and for himself, and that's all that matters.

He really hates his new guardian, though.

* * *

 _Notes_

\- Now you see why I had to stop writing, but it ended up being cathartic and stuff when I finished this chapter

\- I can't say I'm Catholic just because I'm not baptised but I was raised in a very Catholic way, even if I missed some parts of it growing up (thankfully). But I have Questions about Catholicism in the AnE universe, I have Opinions about Catholicism in the AnE universe, so I'm fleshing it up with my own Mexican Catholicism Experience (tm) (and from people I know, too)

\- The school year in Japan starts on early April, so they are on Lent. I asked lots of people what happens if your relative dies on Lent and nobody actually knew, the internet says that apparently it's only a problem if they die on a Saturday, because normally you should bury them on Sunday (Shiro died on a Friday, but the body wasn't released from an autopsy until Saturday) and you can't hold a funeral Mass on Sundays during Advent or Lent (nor Easter Sunday, Holy Saturday, Good Friday, Holy Thursday). You can hold a Liturgy and the rites, but finding a priest may be difficult because they will be busy, so it's recommended to wait until Monday. In this case, Shiro is an Abbot, so I suppose he can get a priest for his funeral no matter the day.

\- Also, why I put so much emphasis on the days of the week? There's this headcanon/theory on tumblr that the start of the AnE manga takes place on 2011 and the chapters after the twin's birthday take place on 2012, and it makes lot's of sense to me. And well, on 2011 April 1st is a Friday, this works ok for me because: a) in the manga it looks like the twins start school immediately the day after Shiro's funeral, so then they can start classes on a Monday, b) it was too heavy handed and more blasphemous than I'm comfortable to actually kill Shiro on Good Friday (and it didn't work with the timeline), the next best thing was to kill him on a regular (Lent) Friday

\- If something is not written, you may assume it happened as in canon until written otherwise.


End file.
